Dialysis is used for removing waste and excess water from the blood and is used primarily as an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with kidney failure. In hemodialysis, the patient’s blood is pumped through the blood compartment of a dialyzer, exposing it to a partially permeable membrane. In peritoneal dialysis, a sterile solution containing glucose (called dialysate) is run through a tube into the peritoneal cavity, the abdominal body cavity around the intestine, where the peritoneal membrane acts as a partially permeable membrane.